Warning: This review contains spoilers for the original Half-Life 2.

Gordon Freeman is back, and he's alive! When we last left him, he single-handedly caused the demise of the Citadel by overloading its reactor. Just as the blast was about to vaporize both you and Alex, the G-Man freezes time and walks in to take you away, stating that there is more work for you to do.

What the G-Man didn't count on was the Vortigon, who come intervene, returning both you and Alex to a relatively safe location on the planet's surface. Unfortunately, it's only a brief reprieve, because the Citadel is still going vaporize everything caught in its radius, you chief among them. This is where Episode 1 starts, and Gordon immediately gets to work.

For those who don't know, Half-Life 2: Episode 1 represents the second title so far to use the idea of episodic gaming. That is, a short, single chapter of an overarching story. The first title to do this was SiN episodes a few weeks back, which also uses the Source engine for its graphics. Both games are available for direct purchase and download off the Steam service, or they can be purchased in retail stores for a little bit more money.

With liberal use of the Gravity Gun, Gordon pretty much makes a backward trek through the original game, starting at the Citadel and heading back toward the train station from where you first arrived. Even with the Combine defeated, and their interdimensional portal shut down, some of their forces are still trapped on earth, and they're not exactly your biggest fans. The whole beginning of the game has you working with nothing but the Gravity Gun, setting up the pace and overall style of Episode 1, which has players relying more on wits than firepower.

This time, however, you won't be conducting so much of a one-man battle against the world. Alex stays with you at almost every step of your journey, which is great because it means you constantly have someone who is talking towards you and making anecdotes. Eventually, you get to rely on her being there, even though you do the brunt of the work yourself. Episode 1 really shakes things up. If you're one of those people who think that first-person shooters are starting to grow stale, with each looking and playing just like the other, then this is the title to breathe some fresh air back into your game.

The enemies are pretty much all recognizable from Half-Life 2. No big surprises in this episode, but it makes sense, since according to the game, you only destroyed the Citadel a short time ago. Everything is a wreck (even more so than before) and citizens are trying to evacuate the area before the eventual end descends on them. Hindering their progress is what's left of the Combine army who seem to be enacting their own plans, none of which seems to involve preserving the human race.

Although Episode 1 stands on its own fairly well, it is in every way an extension of Half-Life 2 in both story and gameplay. You will have had to finish Half-Life 2 in order to appreciate a lot of the things you see in Episode 1. Besides story and environments, there is nothing in Episode 1 that you haven't already seen in Half-Life 2. Additionally, since it is an episodic game, it's a very short game too. But taking into account that this game costs a little under twenty dollars, you are getting superior value for your money.

Simply put, Half-Life 2: Episode 1 is a fantastic game. It doesn't do it by introducing new bells and whistles. Instead, it takes what it has and builds a new story out of it, creating very challenging situations for the player to work through. One such situation includes Gordon trying to make his way through an abandoned train station while dodging fire from a nearby Strider. The graphics are still amazing, and so are the physics, which employ the Havoc 2.0 physics engine. Not only can you still use the Gravity Gun to throw things around, but in the aforementioned scene, the Strider actually uses pieces of the environment to try to crush you. There is also great uses of lighting, like when you are trapped in a pitch dark abandoned parking garage with nothing but your flashlight to reveal the dozens of zombies staggering towards you. Remember that your flashlight has a limited battery life.

For all those people who have been waiting since the initial cliffhanger Half-Life 2 left you in, Episode 1 is a must have. It continues the story with fantastic gameplay. Just about every character that appeared in Half-Life 2 shows up to back you up or provide ambience, and they are all voiced by the same actors.

This is a game that rocks! If this is the standard for episodic games, then we can look forward to a bright and exciting future for them!